Mexico has a long history with numerous indigenous civilizations. It gained independence from Spain in the early 19th century and is now a federal presidential republic. Mexico has experienced economic challenges in recent decades due to the global financial crisis and drug violence. It has a population of over 125 million people and its largest ethnic group is Mestizo.

1. {
Mexico

2.  The site of numerous advanced Amerindian civilizations –
including the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya, and
Aztec – Mexico was captured and occupied by Spain in the early
16th century.
 Governed as the Viceroyalty of New Spain for three centuries, it
achieved independence early in the 19th century.
 In 2000, the election of Vicente Fox of the National Action Party
(PAN) defeated incumbent Francisco Labastida of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); it was the first time since
the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition candidate
unseated the incumbent.
 He was succeeded in 2006 by fellow PAN member Felipe
Calderón, who himself was defeated by Enrique Peña Nieto in
2012; Peña Nieto will serve as president until December 2018.
Background

3.  The global financial crisis in late 2008 caused a massive
economic downturn in Mexico the following year, although
growth resumed rapidly in 2010.
 Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real
wages, high underemployment, unequal salary allocation, and
limited advancement opportunities for the majority-
indigenous population in the poor southern states.
 Since 2007, Mexico's powerful drug-trafficking organizations
have engaged in violent feuding, resulting in tens of
thousands of drug-related murders.
Background (cont.)

4. Geography
 Location: North America,
bordering the Caribbean Sea and
the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize
and the United States, and
bordering the North Pacific Ocean,
between Guatemala and the United
States
 Geographic coordinates: 23 00 N,
102 00 W
 Map references: North America

5.  Area:
 Total: 1,964,375 sq. km
 Land: 1,943,945 sq. km
 Water: 20,430 sq. km
 Country comparison to the world: 15
 Area – comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas
 Land boundaries:
 Total: 4,389 km
 Border countries (3): Belize 276 km, Guatemala 958 km, United States 3,155
km
 Coastline: 9,330 km
 Maritime claims:
 Territorial sea: 12 nm
 Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
 Contiguous zone: 24 nm
 Continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Geography (cont.)

6.  Climate: differs from tropical to desert
 Terrain: high, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus;
desert
 Elevation:
 Mean elevation: 1,111 km
 Elevation extremes: lowest point is Laguna Salada (-10 m); highest
point is Volcán Pico de Orizaba (5,636 m)
 Natural resources: petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc,
natural gas, timber
 Land use:
 Agricultural land: 54.9% (2011 est.)
 Arable land: 11.8% (2011 est.) / permanent crops: 1.4% (2011 est.) / permanent
pasture: 41.7% (2011 est.)
 Forest: 33.3% (2011 est.)
 Other: 11.8% (2011 est.)
Geography (cont.)

7. { {Laguna Salada, lowest
point
Volcán Pico de Orizaba,
highest point
Geography (cont.)

8.  Irrigated land: 65,000 sq. km (2012)
 Population distribution: the majority of the population resides in the
middle of the country between the states of Jalisco and Veracruz;
roughly a quarter of the population lives in and near Mexico City
 Natural hazards: tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and
destructive earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on
the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts
 Volcanism: volcanic activity in the central-southern part of the country;
the volcanoes in Baja California are generally inactive; Colima (3,850
m), which erupted in 2010, is Mexico's most active volcano and is
responsible for causing intermittent withdrawals of nearby villagers; it
has been considered a Decade Volcano by the International
Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior,
worthy of research due to its explosive history and close vicinity to
human populations; Popocatepetl (5,426 m) poses a danger to Mexico
City; other historically active volcanoes include Bárcena, Ceboruco, El
Chichón, Michoacán-Guanajuato, Pico de Orizaba, San Martin,
Socorro, and Tacaná
Geography (cont.)

9.  Environment – current issues: lack of hazardous waste
disposal facilities; rural to urban relocation; natural freshwater
resources in short supply and infested in north, unreachable
and poor quality in center and extreme southeast; raw sewage
and industrial overflows polluting rivers in urban areas;
deforestation; prevalent erosion; desertification; declining
agricultural lands; serious air and water pollution in the
national capital and urban centers on border with the U.S.;
land collapsing in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater
diminution
 Note: the government deems the lack of clean water and
deforestation national security issues
Geography (cont.)

10.  Environment – international agreements:
 Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
 Signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
 Geography – note:
 Note 1: strategic location south of the U.S.; corn (maize), one
of the world's principal grain crops, almost certainly traces its
origins to Mexico
 Note 2: Mexico is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire,
a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering
the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and
about 75% of the world's volcanoes take place within the Ring
of Fire
Geography (cont.)

11.  Population: 125,959,205 (July 2018 est.; country comparison to the
world: 11)
 Nationality:
 Noun(s): Mexican(s)
 Adjective: Mexican
 Ethnic groups: Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 62%,
predominantly Amerindian 21%, Amerindian 7%, other 10%
(mostly European) (2012 est.)
 Note: Mexico does not gather census figures on ethnicity
 Languages: Spanish only 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous
languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8% (2005)
 Note: indigenous languages include numerous Mayan, Nahuatl, and
other regional languages
 Religion: Roman Catholic 82.7%, Pentecostal 1.6%, Jehovah's
Witness 1.4%, other Evangelical Churches 5%, other 1.9%, none
4.7%, unspecified 2.7% (2010 est.)
People and Society

12. { {Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
People and Society (cont.)

13. { {Mexico City Mexico Temple
(affiliated with Mormonism)
Sinagoga Histórica Justo Sierra
People and Society (cont.)

14.  Official name: United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos)
 Etymology: named after the Mexica, the largest and most
powerful branch of the Aztecs; the meaning of the name Mexico is
unclear
 Government: Federal presidential republic
 Capital: Mexico City
 Administrative divisions: thirty-two states (estados, singular -
estado); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur,
Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Cuidad de
Mexico, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico,
Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla,
Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora,
Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas
 Independence: 16 September 1810 (date of declaration of
independence from Spain), 27 September 1821 (date that Spain
recognized it)
Government

15. Government (cont.): Political and administrative map

16.  National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)
 Constitution:
 History: several prior; most recent ratified 5 February 1917 (2018)
 Amendments: proposed by the Congress of the Union; passage
requires support by no less than two-thirds of the members
present and approval by a majority of the state legislatures;
amended several times, most recently in 2017 (2018)
 Legal system: civil law system with U.S. constitutional law
influence; judicial review of legislative acts
 International law organization participation: accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt
jurisdiction
Government (cont.)

17.  Citizenship:
 Citizenship by birth: yes
 Citizenship by descent only: yes
 Dual citizenship recognized: not specified
 Residency requirement for naturalization: five years
 Suffrage: eighteen years of age; universal and compulsory
Government (cont.)

18.  International organization participation:
 APEC, Australia Group, BCIE, BIS, CAN (observer), CARICOM
(observer), CD, CDB, CE (observer), CELAC, CSN (observer),
EBRD, FAO, FATF, G-3, G-15, G-20, G-24, G-5, IADB, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO,
ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAES, LAIA, MIGA, NAFTA, NAM
(observer), NEA, NSG, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, Pacific
Alliance, Paris Club (associate), PCA, SICA (observer), UN,
UNASUR (observer), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO,
Union Latina (observer), UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs),
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Government (cont.)

19. El Castillo

20.  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/
the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html
Sources